The Antifa crowd strikes again... despite being a liberal slanted band with specifically anti-fascist songs, U.S. black metal band Woe has been booted from performaning at the Hamburg ist Droneburg fest due to sharing the stage with Inquisition - a band frequently cited as being fascist. Chris Grig from Woe issued this statement to the fans:

"Woe and Ultha were just kicked off of a show because we are performing with Inquisition. We learned this via SMS, before our booker was informed, after driving four hours across Germany, and with no opportunity to appeal the decision.

"The absurdity of this situation is profound. For years, we have been exceptionally vocal about our political and social stances but still careful to not let them define us as a band. We never backed down from an opportunity to discuss it in interviews, we never shrank from it online, we covered a classic anti-fascist punk song to extremely apolitical black metal crowds, and we doubled down with songs like 'No Blood Has Honor' on our new album. Along the way, we introduced countless black metal fans who had never considered politics that it is possible to take an anti-fascist stance without sacrificing the harsh, abrasive stance of a black metal band.

"Our politics have made us the subject of ridicule by some people in the extreme metal scene, but we do not care. Even our detractors typically understand that black metal is full of conflict and diversity. Those who hate us for our liberal views are free to do so, and, ironically, those are the people who are least willing to tell us what we should or shouldn't do, what shows we should and shouldn't play. We'd find this funny if it wasn't so poignant right now. More...

U.S. black metal unit Woe begins a European live takeover with Germany-based black metal unit Ultha on Thursday, April 13th. The trek includes an appearance at Roadburn on April 22nd with future onstage assaults both stateside and abroad in the plotting stages.

Woe will be touring in support of the "Hope Attrition" full-length issued last month via Vendetta Records (reviewed here). A dark, mournful work that draws from Woe's black metal influences while extracting dormant death metal undertones, the album was produced by Stephen DeAcutis (Evoken, Dim Mak) and serves as a personal commentary on the chaos of the modern world that only Woe can offer.

In advance of its release, Noisey is currently streaming the record in full - listen in at this location. "Hope Attrition" will see release this coming March 17th on CD, vinyl, cassette, and digital formats. More...

U.S. black metal unit Woe will release new "Hope Attrition" full-length album next month via new label home Vendetta Records. In advance of its release and in conjunction with Valentine's Day, today "The Ones We Lost" is offered up for public feasting.

"If the name doesn't give it away, 'The Ones We Lost' is about coming to terms with a loved one's death," elaborates founding guitarist/vocalist Chris Grigg. "For me, it is the most draining song of Woe's entire catalog. I, the other members of the band, and seemingly everyone I know had to deal with sudden deaths of family and friends over the past few years. Even if you recover, it leaves you changed."

He goes on to say, "The cognitive dissonance between your body's sense of something fundamentally broken in the world and the world's indifference never really goes away. I think of this song as the emotional centerpiece of the album, a statement about grappling with the individual's powerlessness in the face of the ultimate, final uncaring force." More...

"Hope Attrition" is the impending new full-length album from U.S. black metal collective, Woe.

Composed throughout the end of 2015 and most of 2016, this alarming seven-track offering, the band's first in four years, will see release next month via Woe's new label home Vendetta Records.

As a precursor to the album's impending release, today new track "The Din Of The Mourning" is offered for public consumption and can be heard below.

"'The Din Of The Mourning' is the dramatic tale of a system's inevitable collapse, those who push against progress, and those who exploit fear," reveals founding guitarist/vocalist Chris Grigg of the tune.

He goes on to say, "It was written over the course of many months, seeing revision after revision, and did not feel finished until we received the guest vocals from Brooks Wilson (Crypt Sermon). I had a rule against performing my own clean vocals on this album but this song demanded a feeling of drama that only Brooks could provide." More...

The album is bolstered by the crushing production of engineer Stephen DeAcutis (Evoken, Dim Mak) at Sound Spa Studios in Edison, New Jersey. "Hope Attrition" is a personal commentary on the chaos of the modern world that only Woe can offer. Grigg relays of the record's manifestation: More...

The black metal antagonists in Woe are pleased to announce a bout of live assaults next month. Scheduled to commence September 6th and run through September 22nd, the latest run marks the band's lengthiest tour of its career. Woe will be joined by genre-crushing co-headliners Inter Arma.

Elaborates vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg of the trek, "Not only is this Woe's longest tour to date, it is almost entirely new ground for us. We couldn't be more appreciative for this opportunity to ruin so many beautiful cities and their charming populations. We are especially glad to be teaming up with Inter Arma, one of our favorite bands in the American metal scene."

Fresh from the studio recording an as-yet-untitled new EP for Relapse, which also released the "Sky Burial" LP earlier in the year, Inter Arma will embark on a sixteen city tour in just over a week.

The action begins next Thursday, September 5th when Inter Arma provides direct support for Gorguts in Springfield, Virginia, followed by a two-week co-headlining run with Woe. Along the way Inter Arma will branch off from the Woe trek for performances at Hopscotch Festival alongside Sleep, Evoken and more, as well as Boomslang Festival with Pallbearer, Thou, Grails and Locrian.

Stay tuned for more info on the pending EP, further tour updates and more on Inter Arma throughout the duration of the year. More...

U.S. black metal act Woe has checked in with the following announcement about postpone upcoming European shows:

"We are extremely sorry to say that our European tour had been postponed. We are already working on a new trip to make up for this. Our apologies to everyone involved. In the meantime, we will take advantage of the opening in our schedule to do another 10 days in the US. Dates will be announced soon."

The shows were to be in support of latest full-length album "Withdrawal." You can read our review of the album right here.

With less than twenty-four hours to official release, Cvlt Nation today presents the full-album stream of Woe’s "Withdrawal." Check out the full album at this location.

Produced by vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg, "Withdrawal" hits stores tomorrow, and the 43-minute album will be available on both CD and vinyl formats. Recorded at studios in New York and New Jersey, the album's seven new songs present an updated band: drummer Ruston Grosse (recently replaced with Shawn Eldridge), bassist Grzesiek Czapla, and guitarist Ben Brand together with Grigg deliver the black metal goods. The "Withdrawal" track listing is:

The track listing is as follows:

1. This is the End of the Story2. Carried by Waves to Remorseless Shores of the Truth3. All Bridges Burned4. Ceaseless Jaws5. Song of My Undoing6. Exhausted7. Withdrawal

Stereogum is now streaming “Exhausted,” the second song to be premiered from Woe’s forthcoming new album, "Withdrawal." Give the song a listen at this location.

"Withdrawal" is set for release on April 23rd, was produced by vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg, and mastered by Colin Marston.

Discussing the track, Grigg says, “‘Exhausted’ is one of the most dynamic and diverse tracks on the album. It has the fastest, most aggressive moments of the album but also some of its most subtle. The lyrics are a straightforward statement about giving up, moving on, while the music -- the first written collaboratively as a band -- moves quickly and dramatically, representing life's abrupt twists.”

The first new material by the band since 2010’s "Quietly, Undramatically" (reviewed here) finds Woe reunited with cover artist/illustrator and friend Justin Miller. More...

Pitchfork has premiered the song “Carried By Waves to Remorseless Shores of the Truth,” taken from Woe’s forthcoming new album titled "Withdrawal." Check out the track right here.

The song, written by vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg, examines the darkness and antisocial inclinations of mankind. It is one of seven new songs featured on the album, set for North American release on April 23rd.

Recorded at studios in New York and New Jersey during the latter months of 2012, "Withdrawal" benefits from 18-months of live performances; something impossible in the band’s early years. More...

Candlelight Records today confirms April 23rd as the North American release date for "Withdrawal," the third album from black metallers Woe.

Produced by vocalist/guitarist Chris Grigg and mastered by Colin Marston, the album features seven new songs with a running time of 43 minutes. It is the first new material by the band since 2010’s "Quietly, Undramatically" (reviewed here). "Withdrawal" reunites the band with artist and long-time friend Justin Miller.

“I spent a ton of time focusing on the production,” says Grigg in discussing the album’s creation. “We examined what Woe created since its inception in 2007 and broke it down to its core elements. The result is something that is a synthesis of the strongest elements: the unstoppable black metal ferocity of A Spell For The Death of Man mixed with the bold dynamics and smarter, more direct and personal songwriting of Quietly, Undramatically. It is our most intense, our most cohesive, our most personal.”

Recorded at studios in New York and New Jersey during the latter months of 2012, "Withdrawal" is a robust and penetrating album. It benefits from 18-months of live performances; something unavailable to Woe in the early years. “This is music that was made to be performed live,” Grigg notes. “Working with other people keeps Woe fresh. They bring new ideas and perspectives, fill in the gaps of my own abilities, and keep things moving when I slow down. This is the first Woe album to include not just riffs written by others but entire songs. Ruston (Grosse, drums) wrote 'Ceaseless Jaws.' Ben (Brand, guitar) wrote the initial draft of 'Exhausted' and then we reworked it. It's also the first album to include vocals other than mine: Grzesiek (Czapla, bass/vocals) doesn't just do backups; he has entire verses in a number of songs and is more 'second vocalist' than anything else.” More...

U.S. black metal act Woe has posted the following message online about parting ways with drummer Ruston Grosse:

"Ruston has decided to leave Woe to focus on his mastery of the dark arts. He will still appear on the new album and we absolutely wish him the best.

"In the meantime, we are looking for a new live drummer. You should be in the Philadelphia or Brooklyn area, have solid gear, flexible schedule, and be able to play our long fucking songs (one-foot blasts!) without passing out from exhaustion. Email chris@subvertallmedia.com. Here's Ruston tearing shit up last year."

This upcoming new album will be the follow-up to 2010's "Quietly, Undramatically" (reviewed here). More...

U.S. black metal act Woe has checked in with the following update about taking a break from live shows to work on a new album:

"We will be taking a break from live performances for the rest of the year so we can focus on finishing our new album. In the meantime, you can see Chris perform a solo acoustic set of his own new material on Saturday, August 25 at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia, opening for Wino & Conny Ochs. More lives dates to follow as long as he doesn't fuck it up too badly."

This upcoming album will follow Woe's 2010 full-length release "Quietly, Undramatically" (reviewed here). Details will be announced as they are made available.

Candlelight Records today launches a free label sampler available exclusively from Amazon.com. The 8-song sampler includes previously unreleased material from Falloch, The Rotted, Wodensthrone, Sear Bliss, Woe, Winterfylleth, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, and includes the first single from Ihsahn's new album "Ereminta."

To download the sampler or stream clips from the release, visit head over to this location.

The inclusion of an early production mix of Rumpelstiltskin Grinder's “Fucking Wild” follows the recent announcement of the band’s forthcoming new album, "Ghostmaker." The Philadelphia-based quartet recently completed a string of regional performances and are now gearing up for dates to support the new album once it hits stores nationwide on June 19th. Guitarist Ryan Moll says, "the title of this track says it all. It’s a rather suiting description of its relentlessness. The lyrics were written by Shawn (Riley) and the title was inspired by some old live Venom recordings."

February is black metal history month, which means there’s plenty of raw, frozen, and spiteful heaviness headed your way in the coming weeks here at Metalunderground.com. In honor of the infamous style we already took a look at Darkthrone in our Sunday Old School column, and now that it’s time for a new edition of “Unearthing the Metal Underground” we’ll dive even further into black metal with three bands rising up through the ranks out of obscurity.

Whether you prefer your black metal of the symphonic or utterly eardrum-destroying and abrasive variety, each of these bands deserve to be heard by a wider audience and should hit your regular musical rotation.

Massakren

Taking a page from the likes of Gothmog and Dimmu Borgir, this young Chicago based band has plenty of extreme vocals and heavy riffing, but supports the music with both corpse paint theatrics and a symphonic flair. The lads from Massakren may be from the U.S. but you’d never tell that from the music alone, which exudes a strongly European feel. Massakren released a self-titled last year (reviewed here), and hopefully we’ll be getting even more melodic mayhem from the band in the near future. To hear what the group has to offer, check out Massakren’s Facebook profile or watch the music videos available below.

The Metal Suckfest -- the 2-day, 20-band, MetalSucks-curated metal festival being held at NYC's Gramercy Theater on November 4th and 5th -- has made a last minute addition to its Day 1 roster: NYC pornogrind act Lake Bukkake will open the fest, prior to headliners Municipal Waste, God Forbid, Today is the Day, Howl, Black Tusk, and many more. Metalsucks commented:

"After months and months and months of negotiations — and by 'negotiations,' we mean 'us pestering and begging them constantly' — the group has FINALLY agreed to emerge from their shell to play the opening set on Day 1 of The Metal Suckfest, one week from today, Friday, November 4. The band will play both I Left My Heart…and 1996's Shut Up it’s Good for Your Complexion in their entirety. (The combined running time of both albums is less than fifteen minutes.)

"They also PROMISED us to debut at LEAST two songs from Chinese Bukkakacy, which they have, indeed, been working on for awhile (although apparently it may not be called that anymore — 'The idea seemed pretty funny in 2006, not so much anymore,' the band told us by e-mail)."

The inaugural Metal Suckfest, a 2-day metal festival set to take place on November 4th and 5th at New York City's Gramercy Theater, has announced four additional bands have been added to the lineup. All Pigs Must Die and This is Hell will appear on Friday, November 4th alongside Municipal Waste, while Three and Last Chance to Reason will open for Cynic on Saturday, November 5th. The lineup is as follows: